‘Math Madness’ connects parents with today’s classrooms

ROCKFORD — Close your mouth. Open your ears. This is no time for fun and games.

Countless teachers have uttered those words to students — but not the teachers at Walker Elementary School.

Why?

Because learning is fun and games and very interactive, especially math.

The K-5 school invited the parents to “Spooky Reading Night” in the fall and invited them back on the first day of spring to what math coach and college hoops fan Sheila Zuroske called “Family Math Madness.”

“We just want to show the parents what we are doing,” she said.

Sure, the children are still learning addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but they’re learning with the aid of 21st century learning tools such as SMARTBoards, iPads and math manipulatives.

“Everything is hands-on games,” Principal Matt Lerner said in his opening remarks before inviting the parents to stop in the classrooms and see their children at work.

In fourth-grade teacher Natalie Wylde’s classroom, iPads rested on top of every desk.

Ten-year-old brothers Jordie and Nello Cellitti zoomed right through a word problem: “John played in the snow for five days in a row. Each day he made eight snow angels. What was the total number of snow angels he made?”

They didn’t have to ask their mother, Bryanna Herron, to double-check their work. They used an iPad to scan a QR code next to the word problem, which showed they had the correct answer of 5 X 8 = 40.

“You take something as simple as a worksheet and put a QR code on it and they love it,” Wylde said.

Seven-year-old Grey Rathmann also used an iPad, which showed he was 4-for-4 in solving subtraction problems.

“He won’t admit it, but he’s really good at math,” said his mother, Nicole Rathmann.

Across the hall, parents were not greeted with a simple, “Won’t you come in. I’m Mrs. Chana Payne.”

Instead, the ball of energy blurted, “You ready for some fraction action? Whose ready for some fraction action?”

Using a laptop and SMARTBoard, Payne invited students to come up to the touch-screen board and find the least common denominator to as many fractions as they could under a set amount of time.

In the gymnasium, parent Heath Swanson sat with his children — Micah and Elijah, 6, and Michaela, 4 — at the “Make and Take Egg Carton Counting” table. The carton and a couple of beans placed inside of it were used to help the youngsters add and subtract.

“It’s very different from when I was school,” Swanson said. “It’s great to see how they are learning. It’s a lot more hands-on and interactive. They get to have fun. We were forced to memorize things.”

Principal Lerner said the activities are designed to help teachers prepare the students for next year’s Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers testing.

The assessment is designed to help teachers determine if students are on track for postsecondary success before entering college or the workforce.